The Joint Commission's Government Relations activities continually focus on seeking greater public sector reliance on state-of-the-art private sector accreditation and certification activities. This is based on the demonstrated effectiveness of our public/private sector partnership in monitoring and addressing identified problems, and stimulating performance improvement in health care organizations. To achieve these objectives, the Joint Commission maintains relationships with a broad range of federal and state agencies and actively monitors legislative and regulatory activities at the federal and state levels.
Our Mission
- Expand the growth of the Joint Commission's accreditation and certification services by soliciting potential new customers, facilitating program growth through increased governmental agency recognition and reliance, and building greater appreciation for Joint Commission accreditation services and certification among purchasers, employers, benefit consultants, and insurance brokers.
- Cultivate and enhance communications and collaborative relationships with state hospital associations and other healthcare associations in pursuit of increased recognition of the value of Joint Commission accreditation.
- Pursue and culminate cooperative accreditation initiatives with other accrediting organizations and explore collaborative opportunities with state and federal agencies to reduce the level of redundant survey and inspection activity.
During the last few years, both federal and state agencies responsible for the quality oversight of health care organizations have experienced dramatic budget cuts and funding limitations that have negatively influenced their ability to meet this responsibility through their own timely inspections. The Joint Commission has comprehensive quality review programs for hospitals, home care agencies, laboratories, behavioral health care settings, long term care facilities, critical access hospitals and ambulatory care settings. These review programs can, and often do, serve as an alternative to state and federal inspection of these organizations. In fact, the Joint Commission's Hospital, Home Care, Laboratory, and Ambulatory Surgery Centers Accreditation, and Critical Access Hospitals are recognized by the federal Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) as meeting or exceeding the federal quality standards for these organizations. Thus many of these organizations are able to use their Joint Commission accreditation to obtain Medicare certification through a process known as "deemed status." Similar reliance for licensure purposes exists for hospitals and other types of provider organizations in many states.